Day of the winding roads. But this turned into a grand adventure.
I enjoyed every minute of the riding today, up and down gorges and through small towns running market stalls. The video on YouTube is excellent for this. We rode over the final pass beside the huge Silver Mine at 4,300m and watched the wind blowing dust for miles.
We are staying at the Coloso Hotel right in the heart of Potosi which looks ordinary from the outside and is actually very well laid out on the inside. Our room is the best yet, with a spectacular view over the the roof tops to the hills.
Potosi is the highest city in the world at 4,090 metres so we felt a little lethargy from the altitude. Jeff was in real trouble here and later went into the "oxygen room" at the hotel to get some relief.
The mine was built by the Spanish starting in 1549 and lasting over 300 years. The silver financed the entirety of their global expansion and made them the wealthiest country on earth for that time. Over all years this mine has produced over 20% of the total worlds silver for all time. At those early years, it produced 90% of all silver on the planet. About 5-8 million people died in the mine, mostly African slaves and local indigenous people. We visit today.
Yesterday we had a delayed group meal, at El Fogon where they took ages to feed us, but it became apparent that the lasagna was hand made for us, and as a result was fantastic - as good as any I have had. I also had tomato soup which was equally good. They could not find gin for a gin and tonic, but never mind.
Jeff took a real turn here, and needed to be transported back to the hotel by taxi. Prior to that, JC had found SIM cards for our phones, but I have been unable to talk to Ian or Dad yet.
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